C2K Architecture is designing the Silvery Towers Condominiums on behalf of Full Power Properties, LLC. The development is located in downtown San Jose. It will feature two high-rise towers and a retail podium that will extend the San Pedro Square arts and entertainment district.

643 units in two condo towers right by San Pedro Square, this lot is practically kitty corner to Centerra.

Progress as of Apr 29, 2017:

Looks like they are starting work on the 12th floor, which I believe leaves 10 floors including the 12 to go.

Trammell’s designs for the land are still being refined, but executives anticipate developing about 800,000 square feet of office in two buildings rising 10 to 12 stories, and 325 apartment units in a nine-story building. The site, which fronts West Santa Clara Street kitty corner from SAP Center, would be sprinkled with shops and restaurants and include a large public plaza along West Santa Clara Street. The historic San Jose Water Company building would be renovated and repurposed, possibly as an entertainment-focused retail space.

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But make no mistake: While developers are thrilled for the new Whole Foods, which has been credited with drawing investor interest, this is all about transit.

Trammell, which has developed more than $60 billion worth of real estate over its nearly 70-year history, was searching for a major transit-oriented development site next to Caltrain up and down the Peninsula, Little said. Executives quickly honed in on the Adobe land, attracted to its large size and Diridon’s frequent “Baby Bullet” Caltrain service, the line’s semi-express mode.

That could all change after the San Jose City Council on Tuesday gave final approval to a redesigned $150 million mixed-use high-rise condo project there called Park View Towers, brushing aside objections from the Preservation Action Council of San Jose that the development was out of character with the historic area.

The go-ahead means BSB can move forward with the complex process of moving the historic church so that site work can begin in earnest, a prelude to vertical construction. (The church will then be moved back and renovated for commercial use, making it the centerpiece of the two-tower, 220-unit project.) And it raises hopes for a long-awaited revival of the St. James Park, a vast downtown open space designed by Frederick Law Olmstead but an area that has long struggled with homelessness and drugs.

"This is a critical milestone in the history of St. James Park," said Christy Mabry, senior development manager for BSB. "It will be a huge catalyst. It will get the eyes on the park."

Work hasn't started in moving the church or demo of the parking lot currently at the site. Speculation has been on an early 2016 date, but no work occurred.

Parkview Towers
The Parkview Towers site has already been approved for 220 homes (Image: SVBJ)
Mainland developer R&F Properties this month appears to have picked up its fifth and sixth US property projects, adding a pair of Silicon Valley sites to the $9.6 billion in new overseas developments it has committed to this year.

Two subsidiaries of San Francisco-based Full Power Properties – a US company linked to the Guangzhou-based builder – last week acquired the Park View Towers and North San Pedro Tower 3 residential projects in San Jose, California from local developer Swenson for an undisclosed sum, according to a report in the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Stories in the US and mainland press have linked Full Power to R&F, but the Chinese company has never acknowledged having a stake in the privately-held firm.

When San Jose's Julian Street "power curve" was built in the 1970s, the goal was to offer downtown motorists quick and easy access to Highway 87.

It worked. But it also stifled development on a broad swath of downtown by bisecting three parcels at odd angles. And walkability? Forget about it.

Now, after a decade of starts and stops, plans to bring "back the grid" by realigning Julian are moving forward. So are projects that will build more than 900 residential units on 10 acres of adjacent city-controlled land in the form of towers, townhomes and mid-rise buildings. Together, they promise to transform the North San Pedro district into a bustling new neighborhood.

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The building, designed by BDE Architecture, is one of two towers that Swenson is working on. The other would include about 200 units at Devine and N. San Pedro streets on a lot that's currently slashed in half by Julian.

Two subsidiaries of San Francisco-based Full Power Properties – a US company linked to the Guangzhou-based builder – last week acquired the Park View Towers and North San Pedro Tower 3 residential projects in San Jose, California from local developer Swenson for an undisclosed sum, according to a report in the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Stories in the US and mainland press have linked Full Power to R&F, but the Chinese company has never acknowledged having a stake in the privately-held firm.

The property recently sold so hopefully it will be braking ground this year.

San Pedro Square in line for 200 apartments in McEnery, Mill Creek plan
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Working with Mill Creek Residential Trust, an investment and development firm, McEnery and his partners are proposing a 204-unit apartment complex for a 1-acre parcel at 45 N. San Pedro St. A formal city planning application was submitted last week.

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Enter Mill Creek, a Texas-based firm founded by a group of former executives from Trammell Crow Co., the mammoth development outfit now owned by CBRE. Donald Peterson, a senior managing director at Mill Creek's San Francisco office, was looking for Bay Area projects and was already familiar with the San Pedro Square area.

"As far as I was concerned, that was ground zero," Peterson said.

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Mill Creek's and McEnery's project is in some ways more difficult: Its mid-block location and historic neighbors pose unique challenges.

"It's one of downtown's most important infill sites nestled between the historic buildings and the heart of San Pedro Square," said Scott Knies, executive director of the San Jose Downtown Association. "It has to be designed and executed brilliantly."

New science building for San Jose State University (located in downtown for those who are not familiar with the area).

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San Jose State University will create a state of the art science facility focused on faculty-led student research. The project will construct a new building of 160,000 gross square feet accommodating teaching labs, research labs, faculty offices, dean's suite and interdisciplinary spaces. The project location is being proposed in the south west quadrant of campus north of Duncan Hall.

A local development firm, operating with Chinese backing, has been selected to acquire a key, city-owned parcel in downtown San Jose — a deal that could lead to a soaring modern tower that combines homes, offices, a hotel and new expansion space for the Tech Museum of Innovation.

City officials chose Insight Realty Co. for the development deal at 180 Park Ave., better known as Parkside Hall, officials confirmed on Thursday. The firm headed by real estate veteran Dennis Randall beat out three other hopefuls for the site, located near one of downtown’s best corners at Park Avenue and Almaden Boulevard.

Insight would still need to come to financial terms with the city, a process that could take six months and would require city council approval. If a deal is ultimately inked, it could lead to an iconic new element in the city’s skyline — a 270-foot tower punctuated by landscaped outdoor terrace steps wrapped in an undulating glass skin. The project — dubbed Museum Place — would include:

60,000 square feet of expansion space for the Tech Museum on the ground floor;

The San Jose City Council on Tuesday formally agreed to enter into talks with Insight King Wah, a joint venture of Insight Realty and King Wah Development, to acquire the city-owned site. The partnership is being backed in the deal by China New Era, a global real estate investor, for the $250 million project.

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My hope is that this would lead to making the area east of Market (South of San Fernando) to be more pedestrian friendly, especially if they add residential and hotel, as currently everything in that part, especially Almaden is seriously lacking in that regard.

Nearly two decades after Cheim Lumber sold its last two-by-four, its almost five-acre site could become a hotbed of wood-frame construction itself.

Fairfield Residential last week turned in a proposal to develop a 315-unit apartment community at 800 W. San Carlos St. The project promises to bring bodies and retail to the key corner at West San Carlos and Sunol Street that in recent years has served as a Hertz truck rental location.

On tap: 23,500 square feet of retail, restaurant and office spaces primarily oriented along the main West San Carlos corridor, San Jose planner Emily Lipoma told me. Preliminary plans show a project ranging from four to seven stories.

The city has been looking to inject new life into the area, with mixed results so far. The biggest piece of that effort, The Ohlone — an 8-acre project with up to 800 units of housing across the street from the Fairfield proposal — has faced numerous challenges lately, and its future is uncertain. The Fairfield proposal represents an entirely new project on a different piece of land.

Development in the Santana Row neighborhood will likely never be fully complete, but the last major project with an official Santana Row street address is now underway. '700 Santana Row' will provide a bookend to what is one of the most successful mixed-use developments in the world.

The 284,000 SQFT premium office building will be located at the very end of the row next to the CineArts movie theater. The offices feature 13-foot ceilings, expansive floor plans, and a 15,000 SQFT garden terrace on the roof. The ground floor will have a signature plaza that will be open to all.

Parking will be available in a new parking structure that will also be open to the public during evenings and weekends. Thankfully, Santana Row will be offering shuttle service to Diridon Station as an alternate transportation option. The total cost of the project is expected to be between $205-215 million and completion should wrap up by Q3 2018 according to the SVBJ.

New renderings of The Graduate in downtown San Jose, located next to San Jose State University. It doesn't have those inflatable air dancers anymore and they changed the color from yellow to orange.

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The Graduate is a 260-unit/1,039 bed off-campus student housing project located on a 1.5-acre site, located within one block of the San Jose State University (SJSU) in San Jose, California. It will be a newly constructed property designed to meet the needs of students and will be located one block west of SJSU and less than 0.5 miles from the central core of the campus.

New renderings of The Graduate in downtown San Jose, located next to San Jose State University. It doesn't have those inflatable air dancers anymore and they changed the color from yellow to orange.

Renderings from Amcal Housing

Was just about to talk about the new renders, thanks gillynova, Amcal seems optimistic, especially about breaking ground soon, and building out. It will be the first high-rise to break ground since Silvery towers if they beat #Diridon to the punch, which they might well do, I have seen no action from their end.

The project, reaching 202 feet in height, will provide 260 housing units containing a total of 1,039 beds and 14,800 square feet of ground floor commercial-retail along East San Carlos and South Third Streets. Although legislation prohibits placing restrictions on who can occupy the units, the residential component will target students attending nearby San Jose State University.

The “L-shaped” tower drops down dramatically to a parking structure containing the bulk of amenity space on a 24,380 square foot recreational deck fronting South Second Street. A pool, spa, two bocce courts and an outdoor seating area are featured on the deck. The parking structure underneath offers 265 spaces in one below grade and three above grade levels. In an attempt to encourage students to bike to class, 577 bicycle spaces are included in the plans in lieu of additional car spots. Other building amenities are on the second through fourth floors offering study rooms, a sauna, steam rooms, yoga studio, multipurpose room and fitness facility.

The project proposes to construct up to 260 student housing units and 17,190 square feet (s.f.) of ground-floor retail space within a 19-story tower. Parking for the project will be provided within a four-level parking garage accessed via a left-turn only driveway located along S. 2nd Street. The parking garage will include 265 parking spaces, 71 motorcycle parking spaces, and space for storage of 400 bicycles.

A bit of inconsistency on the number of bike spaces, but having only 265 spaces should keep traffic down, instead of giving one per student, granted they only need cars for going out to the suburbs or other cities from there, and with BART being around by then, shouldn't really be a necessity as long as they are willing to Uber/Lyft or take the 523 or 500 to and from. Since camera 12 shut down one has to go out to the suburbs to see the movies, so people may want a car for that. I wonder if students will find all the Zipcar options more doable.

SAN JOSE — Trammell Crow and other real estate investors have begun to gobble up large and small parcels in downtown San Jose — spending more than $70 million — in areas that could create one or more mega-campuses for tech giants or other big corporate players.

Property buyers have collected parcels primarily along Autumn and Montgomery streets south of the SAP Center, according to this newspaper’s review of the transactions, which occurred in December, January, February, March and April. In addition, property owners say they have given one of the buyers multiple options to purchase even more nearby parcels.

sjm-REALDEALS-0504-web2One or more mega-campuses in any of three areas where the purchases have occurred — a proposed Trammell Crow office and housing project, an area where properties are being assembled to the west, or a site for a possible baseball stadium — would be nothing short of a game changer for downtown San Jose if any are built.

“It will be as big as anything that’s ever happened in downtown San Jose,” said Mark Ritchie, president of San Jose-based Ritchie Commercial Real Estate. “It would be like the Uber deal in downtown Oakland, but on steroids. It would be like the Mission Bay area in San Francisco that used to be old rail yards and now is an unbelievable metropolis.”

All told, investors have spent about $72.5 million collecting an eclectic group of several properties.

Interest in downtown San Jose real estate near the Diridon Station is well established, said Nanci Klein, an official with the San Jose Economic Development Department.

“It’s a fantastic area, and it will be an area rich in amenities,” Klein said.

The acquisitions include an iconic but small office building, a single-family home, small businesses and an old telephone company building.

Trammell Crow was mum about the purpose of its recent property purchases, but Ritchie — a veteran commercial real estate observer — said that Mountain View-based search giant Google seems like a good candidate for a tech campus in the area.

“Google makes sense as a company that would move into these properties, including the Trammell Crow project,” Ritchie said. “It’s a smart move to be looking at this part of downtown San Jose.”

That area already has considerable transit access and stands to gain even more, with two BART stations planned in the vicinity.

Google, which in recent years has been actively expanding its operations in Mountain View, Sunnyvale and north San Jose, didn’t respond to multiple requests for a comment about the situation in downtown San Jose.

The property purchases are occurring in an area that borders three well-known downtown San Jose sites: SAP Center, the site once proposed as a baseball stadium for the Oakland A’s, and a mammoth office and housing project proposed by a joint venture led by realty developer Trammel Crow.

Trammell Crow’s proposal includes a centerpiece consisting of 1 million square feet of offices that could become a big campus for a tech firm. The project would rise on 8.3 acres bought in September 2015 by the Trammel Crow venture for $58.5 million. Trammell Crow also has proposed construction of 325 apartment units.

“The market interest fully validates the strength of that location for transit-oriented development,” Don Little, senior vice president of the Trammell Crow Co., said Wednesday. “The market interest could not be stronger. We fully expect a big movement of tech companies into downtown San Jose.”

Trammell Crow’s interest appears to extend well beyond its existing proposal. The developer has begun to broaden its beachhead in downtown San Jose, Santa Clara County property records show.

A partnership controlled by Trammell Crow has spent $17.5 million buying properties, mostly along Autumn and Santa Clara streets. An office building at 450 W. Santa Clara St., a short distance from SAP Center, was the most expensive of the Trammell Crow purchases, in an $11 million transaction during early April. The Trammell Crow affiliate, TC Agoge Associates, paid cash for the acquisitions.

“It’s premature for us to be commenting about our business plans,” Little said, referring to the Trammell Crow affiliate’s property purchases.

A mystery buyer, Rhyolite Enterprises, completed the largest of the property purchases. That $55 million all-cash deal was completed a few days before Christmas by Ryholite. County records show Rhyolite Enterprises has connections to the same Irvine-based law firm that’s sometimes used by Google for its property deals. The law firm didn’t return a phone call requesting a comment.

What’s more, Trammell Crow is poised to add to its shopping spree for properties in the area.

Peggy Schlosser and her daughter, Sue Dee Shenk, whose family owns parcels in the area, both said Trammell Crow has struck a deal with them to buy more of the family’s properties on South Autumn Street.

“They want to move west,” Schlosser said of Trammell Crow’s plans.

Schlosser and Shenk recalled that Trammell Crow began discussing property transactions around last September or October.

“This sounds exciting,” Shenk said. “We hope it can be developed and that it includes affordable housing.”

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The subject property was originally developed in the late 1880s as San Jose’s second (third?) Chinatown, named Heinlenville for its owner and benefactor, John Heinlen. Mr. Heinlen retained prominent local architect Theodore Lenzen to design what he and the Chinese merchants intended to be a permanent home for San Jose’s Chinese population. Aware of the history of arson attacks against previous Chinatowns in San Jose, Mr. Heinlen specified that the new Chinatown be built in brick, and was supplied with both piped water and sewers.

By the 1930s, most of the buildings of Heinlenville were vacant. Gradually, the block bounded by Taylor, Jackson, Sixth, and Seventh Streets were taken over by the City of San Jose for use as a corporation yard, and the remains were buried under asphalt and buildings. In 2008, Sonoma State University performed a series of archaeological excavations in limited areas of the project site. These excavations uncovered the remains of houses, restaurants, and stores, as well as those of Heinlenville’s original Ng Shing Gung Temple

The area around the the Chinatown became Japantown as it was the only area where Japanese immigrants could settle without being hassled.

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A “Great Good Place” in the Heart of Japantown
San Jose’s most unique urban neighborhood will soon be home to one of its most unique developments. A place where residents and visitors can pick up fresh offerings from local farmers, browse an eclectic mix of local shops, restaurants and boutiques, and gather to watch an impromptu practice session of world-renowned San Jose Taiko. Japantown Square will create what the community has envisioned as a “Great Good Place” – residences, local retail, and a new home for San Jose Taiko and local arts organizations - all oriented around a new public park and plaza.

Japantown Square will bring world-class urban design, modern urban living, new local shops, and a home for the beloved San Jose Taiko to the heart of Japantown. When complete, the project will include:
Approximately 532 modern apartments in two buildings, including top-of-class resident amenities
Up to 20,300 square feet of new neighborhood-serving commercial space
The new Creative Center for the Arts with up to 60,000 square feet of arts-related space, including a new home for San Jose Taiko
A new ¾-acre public park and plaza capable of hosting public events including community festivals and the weekly Farmers Market
Approximately 827 new parking spaces to serve residents, commercial tenants and the Creative Center for the Arts

Here is a copy of the FAA restrictions for downtown in terms of height above mean sea level. The ground is generally about 80-100ft above sea level downtown. The tallest building in the city is the 88 at 286ft tall at the corner of San Fernando and 3rd St downtown.